# 2020–21 1. FC Köln season

The 2020–21 season was the 73rd season in the existence of 1. FC Köln and the club's second consecutive season in the top flight of German football. In addition to the domestic league, 1. FC Köln participated in this season's edition of the DFB-Pokal. The season covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 1 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Timo Horn (Vice-captain) |
| 2 | DF | GER | Benno Schmitz |
| 3 | DF | GER | Noah Katterbach |
| 4 | DF | GER | Robert Voloder |
| 5 | DF | GER | Rafael Czichos |
| 6 | MF | GER | Marco Höger |
| 7 | FW | NGA | Tolu Arokodare (on loan from Valmieras) |
| 8 | DF | GER | Ismail Jakobs |
| 9 | FW | SWE | Sebastian Andersson |
| 11 | MF | AUT | Florian Kainz |
| 13 | MF | GER | Max Meyer |
| 14 | MF | GER | Jonas Hector (Captain) |
| 15 | MF | GRE | Dimitris Limnios |
| 16 | GK | GER | Ron-Robert Zieler (on loan from Hannover 96) |
| 18 | MF | SVK | Ondrej Duda |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | DF | NED | Kingsley Ehizibue |
| 20 | MF | GER | Elvis Rexhbeçaj (on loan from VfL Wolfsburg) |
| 21 | MF | GER | Salih Özcan |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Jorge Meré |
| 23 | DF | GER | Jannes Horn |
| 24 | MF | GER | Dominick Drexler |
| 25 | MF | GER | Tim Lemperle |
| 26 | DF | SRB | Sava-Arangel Cestic |
| 28 | MF | TUN | Ellyes Skhiri |
| 29 | MF | GER | Jan Thielmann |
| 31 | MF | GER | Marius Wolf (on loan from Borussia Dortmund) |
| 32 | GK | GER | Julian Krahl |
| 33 | DF | BEL | Sebastiaan Bornauw |
| 43 | FW | NGA | Emmanuel Dennis (on loan from Club Brugge) |

### Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | GER | Niklas Hauptmann (at Holstein Kiel until 30 June 2021) |
| — | MF | FRA | Vincent Koziello (at CD Nacional until 30 June 2021) |
| — | FW | FRA | Anthony Modeste (at Saint-Étienne until 30 June 2021) |
| — | MF | CZE | Tomáš Ostrák (at MFK Karvina until 30 June 2021) |
| — | MF | GER | Marcel Risse (at Viktoria Köln until 30 June 2021) |
| — | MF | AUT | Louis Schaub (at FC Luzern until 30 June 2021) |
| — | FW | GER | Kingsley Schindler (at Hannover 96 until 30 June 2021) |
| — | DF | GER | Lasse Sobiech (at FC Zürich until 30 June 2021) |
| — | MF | BEL | Birger Verstraete (at Royal Antwerp until 30 June 2021) |
| — | DF | GER | Yann Aurel Bisseck (at Vitória de Guimarães until 30 June 2022) |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee' | Date |
| 16 | GK | Ron-Robert Zieler | Hannover 96 | Loan | 13 August 2020 |
| 9 | FW | Sebastian Andersson | Union Berlin | €6,500,000 | 15 September 2020 |
| 18 | MF | Ondrej Duda | Hertha BSC | €7,000,000 | 16 September 2020 |
| 7 | FW | Tolu Arokodare | Valmieras | Loan | 19 September 2020 |
| 15 | MF | Dimitris Limnios | PAOK | €3,300,000 | 21 September 2020 |
| 31 | MF | Marius Wolf | Borussia Dortmund | Loan | 2 October 2020 |
| 43 | FW | Emmanuel Dennis | Club Brugge | Loan | 25 January 2021 |
| 13 | MF | Max Meyer | Crystal Palace | Free | 27 January 2021 |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 8 | MF | Birger Verstraete | Antwerp | Loan | 1 July 2020 |
| 18 | GK | Thomas Kessler | Retired | | 1 July 2020 |
| 36 | MF | Niklas Hauptmann | Holstein Kiel | Loan | 1 July 2020 |
| 28 | GK | Jan-Christoph Bartels | Waldhof Mannheim | Free | 15 August 2020 |
| | DF | Yann Aurel Bisseck | Vitória de Guimarães | Loan | 3 August 2020 |
| 11 | FW | Kingsley Schindler | Hannover 96 | Loan | 6 August 2020 |
| | MF | Tomáš Ostrák | MFK Karviná | Loan | 7 August 2020 |
| | MF | Vincent Koziello | C.D. Nacional | Loan | 11 August 2020 |
| 31 | GK | Brady Scott | Nashville SC | Free | 17 August 2020 |
| 7 | MF | Marcel Risse | Viktoria Köln | Loan | 18 August 2020 |
| 9 | FW | Simon Terodde | Hamburger SV | Free | 20 August 2020 |
| 3 | DF | Lasse Sobiech | FC Zürich | Loan | 5 September 2020 |
| 15 | FW | Jhon Córdoba | Hertha BSC | €15,000,000 | 15 September 2020 |
| 13 | MF | Louis Schaub | FC Luzern | Loan | 16 September 2020 |
| 17 | MF | Christian Clemens | SV Darmstadt 98 | Free | 15 January 2021 |
| 30 | DF | Frederik Sørensen | | Mutual contract termination | 17 January 2021 |
| 27 | FW | Anthony Modeste | Saint-Étienne | Loan | 1 February 2021 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Bundesliga | 19 September 2020 | 22 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 16th | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 34 | 60 | −26 | 023.53 |
| Bundesliga relegation play-offs | 26 May 2021 | 29 May 2021 | First leg | Winners | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 050.00 |
| DFB-Pokal | 12 September 2020 | 3 February 2021 | First round | Round of 16 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 066.67 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 39 | 11 | 10 | 18 | 48 | 64 | −16 | 028.21 |
Last updated: 29 May 2021 Source: Soccerway

### Bundesliga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 14 | Hertha BSC | 34 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 41 | 52 | −11 | 35 | |
| 15 | Arminia Bielefeld | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 26 | 52 | −26 | 35 | |
| 16 | 1. FC Köln (O) | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 34 | 60 | −26 | 33 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 17 | Werder Bremen (R) | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 36 | 57 | −21 | 31 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |
| 18 | Schalke 04 (R) | 34 | 3 | 7 | 24 | 25 | 86 | −61 | 16 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 22 May 2021. Source: DFB

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | L | L | D | D | L | D | L | W | D | W | L | D | L | L | D | W | L | W | W | L | L | L | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | D | W |
| Position | 12 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 16 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 7 August 2020.

#### Relegation play-offs

As a result of their 16th-place finish in the regular season, the club qualified for the play-off match with the third-place team in the 2020–21 2. Bundesliga to determine whether the club would remain in the 2021–22 Bundesliga.

### DFB-Pokal
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Bundesliga | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | DFB-Pokal | Relegation play-offs | Relegation play-offs |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | GER | Timo Horn | 39 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | GER | Ron-Robert Zieler | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | GK | GER | Julian Krahl | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | GER | Benno Schmitz | 15 | 0 | 4+8 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | GER | Noah Katterbach | 25 | 0 | 12+9 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | GER | Robert Voloder | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | GER | Rafael Czichos | 32 | 3 | 26+2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | DF | GER | Ismail Jakobs | 27 | 2 | 18+5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | NED | Kingsley Ehizibue | 23 | 0 | 15+6 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | ESP | Jorge Meré | 20 | 0 | 14+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | GER | Jannes Horn | 32 | 0 | 20+9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | SRB | Sava-Arangel Cestic | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | BEL | Sebastiaan Bornauw | 28 | 1 | 23+1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 6 | MF | GER | Marco Höger | 4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | SVK | Ondrej Duda | 36 | 7 | 32 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | GER | Florian Kainz | 9 | 1 | 6+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | GER | Max Meyer | 12 | 0 | 3+7 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | GER | Jonas Hector | 23 | 5 | 15+4 | 3 | 1+1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 20 | MF | GER | Elvis Rexhbeçaj | 33 | 7 | 20+10 | 5 | 2+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | GER | Salih Özcan | 32 | 1 | 15+13 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | GER | Dominick Drexler | 31 | 3 | 11+16 | 2 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | GER | Tim Lemperle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | TUN | Ellyes Skhiri | 37 | 6 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 29 | MF | GER | Jan Thielmann | 28 | 2 | 9+15 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 31 | MF | GER | Marius Wolf | 35 | 2 | 28+3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | NGA | Tolu Arokodare | 11 | 0 | 0+10 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | SWE | Sebastian Andersson | 18 | 5 | 14+2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 2 |
| 15 | FW | GRE | Dimitris Limnios | 13 | 0 | 2+10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | FW | NGA | Emmanuel Dennis | 10 | 1 | 6+3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||||
| 15 | FW | COL | Jhon Córdoba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | GER | Christian Clemens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | FRA | Anthony Modeste | 9 | 1 | 1+7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | DEN | Frederik Sørensen | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 29 May 2021 Source: Competitions

### Goalscorers

| Rank | Pos | No. | Nat | Name | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | Relegation play-offs | Total |
| 1 | MF | 7 | | Elvis Rexhbeçaj | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 1 | MF | 10 | | Ondrej Duda | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | MF | 28 | | Ellyes Skhiri | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | FW | 9 | | Sebastian Andersson | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | MF | 14 | | Jonas Hector | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 | DF | 5 | | Rafael Czichos | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | MF | 24 | | Dominick Drexler | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | DF | 8 | | Ismail Jakobs | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | 29 | | Jan Thielmann | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | MF | 31 | | Marius Wolf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | MF | 11 | | Florian Kainz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | MF | 21 | | Salih Özcan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | 27 | | Anthony Modeste | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | DF | 33 | | Sebastiaan Bornauw | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | 43 | | Emmanuel Dennis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 34 | 9 | 5 | 48 |
Last updated: 29 May 2021